When Montgomery County became the first jurisdiction in Maryland to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in 2003, county officials predicted that non-smokers from across the region would come “flocking” to the area, “grateful for the chance to eat smoke-free.”

But more than three years after the Montgomery County ban went into effect, Greg Hourigan, the owner of Hard Times Cafe in Bethesda, doesn’t quite remember it that way.

“Flocking?” he asked with a laugh. “People did not come in droves to Bethesda after the ban, that’s for sure.”

Now that the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants will be enforced statewide beginning in February, restaurant owners across the state may be taking another look at the short-term impact on establishments in Montgomery County – which has been under a ban for three and a half years – to see what awaits them.

A review by Capital News Service of state sales tax data from the Maryland comptroller shows that Montgomery County bars and restaurants with liquor licenses saw growth in their revenues come to a virtual stop immediately after the smoking ban. Conversely, the sales tax data show that county restaurants and cafes without liquor licenses continued to experience steady growth. In addition, tax receipts from licensed establishments in neighboring Howard and Prince George’s counties, which did not yet have smoking bans, also continued to grow.

The figures alone are inconclusive, however. Growth in revenues for establishments with liquor licenses as measured by tax receipts had already been slowing throughout the state in the two years before the 2003 Montgomery smoking ban.

Other factors such as the economy and changing business tides may explain the trends. In addition, the original proponents of the ban say that any leveling-off or downturn in revenues was a temporary blip in the vigorous long-term growth in restaurant and bar revenues the county has experienced.

Indeed, operators of some businesses which took a sharp hit after the smoking ban have repositioned their establishments and say that business is now better than ever.

“We’ve angled the business toward everyone now, whereas before it was very blue collar,” says Gordon Banks, the manager of Quarry House Tavern in Silver Spring. Though business at the Quarry House saw a drastic drop after the smoking ban, Banks says it is now booming.

“Rather than just being a smoky dive, it’s become other things,” he said

One of the establishments that saw a downturn was Hourigan’s Hard Times Cafe, a mid-sized chain restaurant and bar in downtown Bethesda. Although not the kind of “smoky dive” that smoking ban opponents said would be most harmed, Hourigan says he saw a 6 to 10 percent drop in bar sales during the first year after the ban in October of 2003.

“Our growth rate was very steady for the first years we were open and then it went flat,” he said.

Others say the ban hit them far harder.

Macdara “Mac” Tigue, owner of Flanagan’s Harp and Fiddle, another mid-sized venue in Bethesda, says his bar sales dropped by about